The previous generation, Carl's parents. Antoine Top, farmer's son from Vlamertinge near Ieper, and Monique Vanniewenhuyse, merchant's daughter from Roeselare, take over the grocery business from her father in 1957. Carl's grandparents had sent his father to Brussels for a year to learn the tricks of the trade. It soon became apparent that Antoine had extraordinary sales skills.

The business grows and flourishes; Antoine begins to export with a van to catering establishments and farms, and organizes wine sales. In this atmosphere Carl is born in 1960. In 1962 mother Monique has to give up. They bought a house with a large garden in the same street, and Monique started a business in women's clothing. Antoine continued his business, working and selling like crazy.

It was through repeated trips to the Valais in Switzerland that Antoine learned to recognize and appreciate the product 'cheese'. He started to emphasize it in his shop and was one of the first to sell French specialties and Swiss Raclette. Brie, Camembert, Explorateur and Pont-l'Evêque were discoveries at that time.

Until now, everyone ate Dutch Gouda and Belgian Brie, a fresh cheese in solid form with a sour buttermilk taste. The new direction of the business turned out to be a bull's-eye! The old activities were systematically phased out and the cheese business grew like crazy! Antoine travelled to France to discover the 'fermiers', went to Rungis near Paris to broaden his range and started cheese evenings at the request of associations and companies. In 1972 the time had come; the old shop was transformed into a 100% cheese shop.

Son Carl, who was never far away, both from the old and new business, really took to it. At the age of 18 he was tired of school after 10 years of boarding and decided to sell cheese as well. In Boulogne-sur-Mer, at Philippe Olivier's company, he could get started immediately. Nowadays one of the biggest cheese phenomena in France. From there it went to the city of lights. Carl ended up in a shop, Gérard Pascaud in rue Cler. Le petit flamand' was thrown to the lions there. Due to the appreciation of the patron he persevered. Afterwards, a number of other businesses followed and he was responsible for training new people. Fromagerie Lillo in the rue de Belles Feuilles was born. When Carl came back to Belgium, he knew 'French' and 'cheese'.

He worked for his father for a year, where the acquired knowledge was integrated. In the meantime he got to know his wife Rosemie, who was also bitten by the cheese bug. After a year of military service the time had come for 'De Kaasbolle' in the Smedenstraat in Bruges to open its doors. We are writing 2 May 1981! This was something else than working at home with dad. A new, own business and... on the other side of the world! Only a few freaks had already heard of the 'Godfather' from Roeselare. One of them was the well-known Bruges gastronome Jan Demonie. They immediately had confidence in the Bruges business 'as the son of...'. The start was not missed and people appreciated the knowledge and enthusiasm, which is still the key to success.

The satisfaction we got from the customers, now and then, is still priceless! Over the years, we also started buying directly from the Paris Early Market. Hence our exclusivity in the range. While Carl is fully occupied with the ripening, Rosemie created some refined preparations, which were very much appreciated! Mixing the right ingredients in the right proportions was her thing. 

A strongly growing segment became the cheese platters, to which we paid enormous attention, both in the composition as in the garnishing. In April 2003 the shop was renovated. At the announcement this could not count on much applause, because the people found the business as it was.

It had soul and charm, the interior suited the product! But in life one must be progressive, I had learned that from my father. We have spared no expense, worked with beautiful materials and had the good fortune to run into a top architect. At the opening there was a lot of appreciation. The old shop was no longer mentioned.

In the fall of 2019, fate struck and Rosemie passed away very suddenly. Carl coped with this heavy loss by falling back on his work ethic and drive to move forward, and comforts himself with the thought that Rosemie may have wanted it that way too.

We would like to thank our customers for their trust over the years, and rest assured, we will continue to do so!